71 CBLJ 50

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THE FUTURE OF SECURITIES LAW

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Mary Condon​

 

ABSTRACT 

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This paper considers the future of Canadian securities law. It argues that that future will be shaped by at least two developments in modern Canadian securities markets that point in opposite directions. On the one hand, the securities law of the future will have to grapple with the decreasing attractiveness of public capital markets as a venue for businesses raising capital. Accordingly, the paper considers challenges for the current regime governing the exempt market as the alternative to public capital-raising and argues that a binary regulatory approach to these two types of capital market may no longer be tenable. On the other hand, the increasing availability of diverse, complex and innovative investment products in capital markets will require a more intensive and multi-layered response from regulators going forward. Both of these market developments will accelerate re-consideration of the role played by two core regulatory techniques embedded in securities law; information disclosure and reactive enforcement mechanisms. The paper argues that these traditional techniques will need to be adapted to account for the increasing importance of private markets for capital.